Went to view a car today and it's a 'ringer'?
Discussion
Felt i totally wasted a whole day today as i went to view a car which i believe is a 'ringer'. Looking for a car for my wife which happened to be in London which was approx a 2 hour journey with traffic. Before i left i confirmed lots of details about the car with the owner, all checked out ok and i also HPI'd the car which came back clear.
Once with the owner at their address (same as V5) me and a friend who had kindly given me a lift and their time, began to look over the car which was generally as described to be fair. I then checked the Stamped V.I.N on the body which was totally different from the HPI and V5 (which were the same)!! I then checked the visable V.I.N through the screen which was correct for the V5 and HPI, i also checked the V.I.N on the engine bay sticker which again was correct with the V5 and HPI. The body stamped V.I.N was a 17 digit but definately not correct, i questioned the owner about this who seemed unaware but not overly shocked to hear. The car in question was a 2001 Mini one, needless to say i didn't buy the car just seemed strange that only these numbers were incorrect and had not been tampered with.
Today has cost me and my friend cash and time, obviously happy i didn't buy it then find out and goes to show how important to check a car over very carefully. I fear someone else will not be so lucky!
Once with the owner at their address (same as V5) me and a friend who had kindly given me a lift and their time, began to look over the car which was generally as described to be fair. I then checked the Stamped V.I.N on the body which was totally different from the HPI and V5 (which were the same)!! I then checked the visable V.I.N through the screen which was correct for the V5 and HPI, i also checked the V.I.N on the engine bay sticker which again was correct with the V5 and HPI. The body stamped V.I.N was a 17 digit but definately not correct, i questioned the owner about this who seemed unaware but not overly shocked to hear. The car in question was a 2001 Mini one, needless to say i didn't buy the car just seemed strange that only these numbers were incorrect and had not been tampered with.
Today has cost me and my friend cash and time, obviously happy i didn't buy it then find out and goes to show how important to check a car over very carefully. I fear someone else will not be so lucky!
nobodyknows said:
Have you reported it?
No i haven't, i've not long been in and had tea. I'm wondering in my head if i've made a mistake but i'm 99% sure the V.I.N was wrong, not by just 1 digit but all of it! Car in question was a 2001 BMW Mini and the V.I.N i viewed was stamped clearly on the RHS front damper housing under the bonnet. Can anyone 100% confirm this is the correct location?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff